Budweiser ‘Double Mashing’ on GE Rice
October 26, 2007 by Ali
Filed under Small Business
Budweiser fans have a bad taste in their mouth, and it’s not just the beer. A recent analysis commissioned by Greenpeace has “detected the presence of genetically engineered (GE) rice (Bayer LL601) in three out of four samples taken” at an Anheuser Busch mill in Arkansas.
Environmental News Network reported that the GE rice in question is the same strain responsible for the “2006 contamination of at least 30 percent of rice stocks in the United States. The GE contamination had a massive negative impact on the U.S. rice industry as many countries subsequently stopped or significantly restricted the import of U.S. rice.”
Greenpeace has voiced what many consumers must be thinking. Has Anheuser Busch slipped some GE across borders in their widely distributed beer? And if they’ve managed to keep the GE out of exports, then why the double standard towards the U.S. market?
Anheuser Busch may have already given out TMI in a response to Greenpeace that “the rice is approved for use in the U.S. and is not used in brewing Budweiser destined for export.” The USDA had tried to quiet concerns over the GE rice basically by approving it (despite public protest) while the European Food Safety Authority has stated there is not enough information about the food product’s safety.
Here’s another scary thought. According to ENN, Anheuser Busch “is the largest single rice buyer in the U.S., buying six to ten percent of the annual U.S. rice crop.” My question is what, in the name of all things pure and sacred, does rice have to do with brewing beer? Water, barley, malt, hops and yeast. End of story.
The recent discovery of the GE rice is ironic, dare we say hypocritical, since Anheuser Busch recently introduced two organic beers, Wild Hop lager and Stone Mill pale ale. How do you get to be an organic beer? Watch organic beer sales rise, start a new company and use 95% organic ingredients. How do you overcome falling beer sales in the your other market? Apparently by using genetically engineered rice as a filler.
Anheuser Busch Using Genetically Engineered Rice in Beer: Greenpeace
Wow, great post, I’m switching to Sam Adams.
Mark
Hi Mark, That sounds like a good idea. Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!
In order to make a very light pilsner beer with a regular alcohol volume ( 4.5-5% ABV), rice is used to add pure fermentable sugars to the beer. If you used just barley the beer would be too dark and tastey or light colored and too week ( < 2% alcohol). Rice adds no flavor to the beer, just alcohol. (keep in mind most US States have laws demanding a certain alcohol % in beverages sold as “Beer”) Does it not make sense that if A.B. buys 10-12% of US’s rice, and US rice is %30 “contaminated” then most of A.B.’s beer would be about %3 contaminated with GE rice? GE Rice is BAD, I guess. I think a more important test of A.B. Beer would be to run a spectral analylis on a clean sample, and one on a typical A.B. beer. I’m sure A.B. does this already, as lager brewers are especially attentive to weird flavors and chemicals in their beer. In other words: What real effect does using GE rice have on the beer?